


Karakuri

by paburke



Series: Kintsugi [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: But they aren't even friends yet, Gen, Marriage of Convenience, Sabé is trying to keep the PTSD Jedi from screwing up her god-children
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-20 16:02:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16140668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paburke/pseuds/paburke
Summary: Ben and Sabé are starting their journey together and can't agree on anything.  It would be a constant battle if Ben had the will to fight.





	Karakuri

-owk->bt-

Sabé stared, she couldn’t help it.  Luke had stopped screaming the second Kenobi- Ben had him situated in his arms.  Not even Dormé could manage it once Leia and Bail Organa had left Polis Massa.  (Dormé would travel to Alderaan after the funeral.)

She could see the quirk of his lips, not a smile or a smirk, on the young, beardless face.  “My Master used to send me to the crèche for an attitude adjustment.”  Then his face blanked as he remembered the elimination of the younglings.  Or of Master Jinn.  Or of any number of people he had lost.

Sabé had to stop the line of thought. “Are you using the Force on him?”

“Only to know what he wants and to disseminate peace.” 

How could he propagate something he did not feel?  Experience.  How often did he project something he did not feel?  All the time?  How would Sabé help a man who didn’t undergo the normal emotional process? 

It was irrelevant now.  She left Luke to Keno- Ben’s tender care and returned to planning with the other women.

-owk->bt-

Given a task, Ken- Ben undertook it to the exclusion of all else.  Luke spent every second in Ben’s arms; Ben fed him, changed his diapers and the baby slept on Ben’s chest.  He had released Luke long enough for the handmaidens to cuddle him before their trip, but otherwise kept a firm hold on him.  The mindset explained how this broken man had managed to defeat Grievous less than a week ago.  It also explained how focused he was on Luke that they were halfway to Corellia on the handmaidens’ starship before he noticed.  The other handmaidens, including Dormé, were taking Padmé’s body on Padmé’s ship to Naboo.  Sabé was sure that Padmé wishes would have included she miss the funeral for the sake of her Queen’s son.

“Corellia?” Ben argued, betrayed.  His voice remained calm, almost expressionless and his arms around the baby remained caring, not tightening an iota.  “That’s part of the Core and Sidious’ domain.”

“Banking is anonymous and they tried their hardest to remain out of the war.  They are not loyal to the Republic or the Separatist or the new Empire.  They aren’t going to care.”

“No, they will give Sidious whatever he wants to keep him out of the Corellian sector and that _will_ include Jedi.”  Sabé found it curious that he never referred to the Sith by his given name.

“You look nothing like a Jedi now.  You look years younger and your identity chips are flawless.  Fe doesn’t miss a trick.  We need those monies.”

 “No, we don’t.”

“We’re not dropping off in hyperspace now.  Too dangerous.”

There was a glint in his eyes that indicated that he was considering the risk.

“You’re allowed at the helm after you’ve eaten two meals,” Sabé loftily told the man who had subsisted on sips of tea since she had met again him over Padmé’s corpse.

He swallowed and Sabé knew he was still nauseated.  When was the last time he had eaten anything of substance?

“Sit,” Sabé suggested, “and I’ll bring you a light soup.”

He did sit at the dining table.  She did bring him the most nutritional soup aboard. (They had several; Fe had a sensitive stomach and Eirtaé had difficulty maintaining the same weight as the rest of them.)  Sabé was so pleased when he had managed to consume over half of the generous portion.  With Luke cradled against his chest, he ate one-handed without spilling a drop.

Sabé didn’t offer to hold the baby.  He was quiet and keeping Ben complaisant.  She had much to do to transform their ship into adequate for their cover story.  She also had to sew multiple outfits for both Ben and Luke.

“My Lady,” Ben said.

“Sabé,” she corrected, as she had before.

He ignored her as he had before.  “There are ‘sabers in my pack.  They need to be hidden.”

True.  She was still surprised that he trusted her to do so.  There were _three_ lightsabers in his pack.  He did not practice the two-saber fighting technique; Jedi did not have ‘holdout’ lightsabers either.  Why did he have three?  Two must not belong to him.

She had never held one before.  Few outside of the Jedi had.  It didn’t feel like anything special, no indication of how effective and deadly they could be in trained hands.  The lightsabers were too large and heavy for even one as proficient in bladed weapons as she.  She brought them back to Ben.  He refused to look at them.  “Do you have a preference?”

A quick glance and then away.  “The middle one the least.”  He would not disclose the owners of any.

Sabé nodded and placed the left one with the holdout blaster hidden by the entrance, the right one hidden in the cockpit and the middle one in the ‘fresher.  Ben was watching her out of the corner of his eyes.  She had no doubt that he knew how to retrieve each in an emergency.

Sabé would never let him be weaponless.  She laid out every spare viroblade on the table from which he could choose.  She pulled the largest hand blaster out of hiding a performed a routine check.  She found a holster that would work and adjusted it to his form as per her memory of his measurements.  She left it all on the dining table as a blatant hint and walked off to complete more chores.

Under his breath, she heard him mutter, “So uncivilized.”  She smiled where he couldn’t see.  There was still life in the beaten Jedi Master, in her husband.  Good.

-owk->bt-

A hand -a very nicely formed hand, in fact- pointed to the encryption on her ‘pad.  “Don’t use that.”

Sabé blinked.  “It’s Padmé’s.  It’s never been hacked.”

“Anakin wrote it for her.”

Oh.  Sabé hurried to use a difference encryption to warn the others.  “What about the others?”

Ben looked over her shoulder.  “Anakin used the top two.  The others are rather weak.  Do you have any brandy aboard?”

Sabé blinked at the non sequitur.  “Are going to get drunk?”

“Not black-out drunk.”

“Then no.”

He sighed and pinched his nose.  “I’ll need to change my thought process enough that Vader won’t be able to follow.”  Sabé found Ben’s distinction between Anakin and Vader thought provoking.

“You can write unbreakable encryptions drunk?”

“Nothing’s unbreakable, but challenging ones, yes.”

Jedi.

“Give me the baby, I’ll get you the brandy.”

Ben looked confused.  “That’s not necessary.  Luke won’t mind an intoxicated, focused mindset.”

_Jedi._

And yes, she was starting to include little Luke, much too quiet for a newborn, in the designation.

-owk->bt-

**Author's Note:**

> Karakuri- can be used to describe both the traditional Japanese mechanized puppets (17th to 19th century) or the Japanese puzzle boxes. Both could be used to describe Obi-Wan at this point.


End file.
